Seeking help for nightmares in adolescents
Somnologie: Schlafforschung und Schlafmedizin December 8, 2023 DOI: 10.1007/s11818-023-00436-1 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Observational cohort Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 100 |
| Population | Adolescents with a mean age of 15.30 ± 0.80 years, 50 female and 50 male |
| Topics | Dreaming |
| Keywords | Distressing Nothing Clinical psychology |
| Key findings | None of the adolescents ever sought professional help for nightmares, despite 21 reporting frequent or distressing nightmares. |
Abstract
Abstract Research indicates that adults suffering from nightmares rarely seek professional help for their condition. However, nothing is known about the help-seeking behavior in adolescents with frequent nightmares. In a sample of 100 adolescents (50 female, 50 male) with a mean age of 15.30 ± 0.80 years, it was found that none of them ever sought professional help for nightmares, even though 21 participants (15 females, 6 males) reported frequent nightmares (once a week or more often) and/or quite or very distressing nightmares. As nightmares are associated with a variety of mental problems in adolescents and can persist into adulthood, it seems very important to find ways to reduce the number of untreated nightmare sufferers in this age group.
Comparable studies
Other observational and cohort studies on dreaming, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lucid Dreaming: a State of Consciousness with Features of Both Waking and Non-Lucid Dreaming Student volunteers trained to become lucid and signal lucidity with horizontal eye... | 2009 | Observational study | n = 6 |
| Nightmare Prevalence, Nightmare Distress, and Self-Reported Psychological Disturbance Young adults with a mean age of 20 years | 2002 | Prospective observational study | n = 116 |
| Long-term effects of extreme situational stress on sleep and dreaming Survivors of traumatic events who complained of sleep disturbances, compared with... | 1987 | Case-control study | n = 11 |
| The relationship of nightmare frequency and nightmare distress to well‐being Adults who reported dreams | 2004 | Observational cohort | n = 147 |
| Dreaming in NREM Sleep: A High-Density EEG Study of Slow Waves and Spindles Healthy human subjects | 2018 | Observational cohort | n = 14 |
Citations in the library
Cites 15
- Factors of home dream recall: a structural equation model Journal of Sleep Research May 12, 2003
- Prevalence of Nightmare Disorder in Psychiatric Outpatients Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics 2013
- Measuring nightmare and bad dream frequency: impact of retrospective and prospective instruments Journal of Sleep Research May 13, 2008
- Nightmares: Knowledge and attitudes in health care providers and nightmare sufferers Journal of Public Health and Epidemiology July 31, 2014
- Gender differences in dream socialisation in children and adolescents International Journal of Adolescence and Youth February 27, 2013
and 10 more in the library